BY NATASHA BARSOTTI – Opponents of Senate Bill 48 (SB48), a law that requires California public schools to cover the contributions of queer people, have once again failed to gather enough signatures to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot aimed at striking down the legislation.

A lawyer for one of the groups behind Stop SB48 told media that the petition, focused mostly on churches, fell about 50,000 signatures short of the 504,760 required to bring forward a ballot initiative.

Mercurynews.com says an earlier attempt to put SB48 to a popular vote also failed.

Senate Bill 48 took effect in January, but most school districts have yet to implement it, the report says.

"What our opponents have shown is that they will seize any opportunity, however small, to launch large-scale attacks on LGBT people," says Equality California board president Clarissa Filgioun in the San Diego Gay & Lesbian News. "The FAIR Education Act was created from a basic concept: that California schools should teach accurate history that is inclusive of the roles of all people."